Final Musings from the Catalyst Conference

Well, its Monday morning and the conference ended at 5:30 on Friday. It’s taken me that long to process much of what I heard over those two jam packed days.

I have shared with you about some of the highlights…great worship…encouraging testimonies…challenging speakers…and a great time with friends. I left there feeling blessed to have been part of the conference and encouraged as I made my way back to Winston-Salem thinking about ways to implement what I have learned and been challenged with.

I want to close with some thoughts from the final message that we heard. At each Catalyst Conference they led Andy Stanley do the first talk and the last talk. As he talked about leadership he shared that with the people you lead you have “Expectations” and your “Experiences” with them in the work place. Hopefully most of the time your experiences match your expectations. But when they don’t a “gap” is created. In other words, “Occasionally, there are gaps between whate we expect people to do and what they actually do.” And what you do with that “gap” is going to make a profound difference in your church or organization.

The choice you have at that point is really pretty simple. You can either choose to believe the best OR assume the worst. Trust is a decision we make and the more trust we have in one another the stronger the organization will be. And here is where I was challenged: “Developing a culture of trust begins with the leader.” Whether we lead large staff teams or small staff teams…whether we lead volunteers or just an administrative assistant…developing a culture of trust begins with the leader. I left challenged and asking myself, “Will I choose to believe the best or assume the worst?”

By God’s grace I will choose to believe the best!

Let me share 5 Commitments that Andy Stanley challenged us with:

When there is a gap between what I expected and what I experienced, I will believe the best.

When othr people assume the worst about you (people you lead), I will come to your defense.

If what I experience begins to erode my trust, I will come directly to you about it.

When I’m convinced I will not be able to deliver on a promise, I will inform you ahead of time.

When you confront me about the gaps I’ve created, I will tell you the truth.

What a great message and a great conference. I can’t wait till next year.